Quote:
Originally Posted by euromodder
Nope.
It doesn't really save that much fuel IRL.
It saves a lot on the EU's NEDC though, where vehicles spend a disproportionate amount of time stopped.
That's why it's come about.
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In real life traffic, the Mazda6 onboards claim 3-5 mpg better with the system on versus off. Of course, even with Mazda's i-Stop turned off, the i-ELoop capacitor system still takes some load off the alternator, so it's still not apples to apples.
What I think is clever with Mazda's system is the way it stops the engine with a single cylinder primed to fire. The restarts are eerily seamless for a car without a hybrid assist/starter motor. If all motors could do that, imagine how much we'd save from not having to "crank" the motor in the morning!
The limiting factor in real-world usage is the capacitor bank only stores enough charge to run the AC for two or three minutes. After that's used up, the car has to turn on to run the AC. Haven't tried seeing how long the capacitors can run the car with the AC and stereo off, though. Should be a pretty long time. Still... short stints in traffic... thirty minutes or so (assuming you have a clear run to charge up before you get stuck), the difference is big. If you're sitting in gridlock from the time you turn the engine on till the time you park, not so much.